I read the AWD system is only an additional 111 lbs. which is not bad compared to today's systems.

How does it affect the ride though? What is the torque split and is it dynamic?

Can the car be made to get the tail end out at all? I know this sounds sacriligeous but does anyone drive their cars in the crappy weather? It seems so many people baby these cars that I don't quite know why you'd even get a C4S unless it was purely for the body style.

I am looking for a car I would drive for short commutes, including potentially rainy days.

Does anyone have curb weight numbers for the C4S and the C2S?

 

If you are gonna be driving in rain and snow it's best to get a 4.

 

I figured that, thanks for the confirmation though.

What about handling, does the car understeer in the dry? If so, how bad is it?

 

An AWD is great as a daily, especially in weather challanged regions like the NW where I live. The torque is 95% rear and can split up to 65/35 IIRC. You can certainly get tail happy but the AWD catches and pulls you out whereas the RWD demands more countersteer. They are very capable in the rain and from what I've read, the snow too with proper tires. AWDs do oversteer vs understeer for RWD but you can balance the car with proper alignment. I run -0.25 less camber in the rear and that has made my car perfectly neutral.

 

+1 on Yunggrazhoppa's comments. Although I believe the normal torque split is 90/10. I've seen different numbers thrown around but the result is the same: AWD has little influence on normal driving and is a fine choice especially in foul weather.

 

I've done a couple or recent autocrosses with my C4S; most recently this past weekend. It performed great but improvement is to be had. To me a bigger issue in improving handling is not the C2 versus C4 debate but instead having the car lowered to ROW specs and replacing the stock Monroes with a better stiffer shock. There were definite advantages on tight curves but I was not happy with the sway through the slalom.

 

This is the first time I have heard that the C2 understeers more than the C4, at least for 1995-96 C4s. The 97-98 C4S's are the turbo car without the turbo and I have no direct info on that score. I have driven a lowered 95 C4 and it understeered strongly compared to all C2s I have driven, a fact also noted in the Road and Track review of the C4 when it came out in the US.

 

Here is a tech description taken from an article by Autocar Magazine when the C4 was launched. It lloks like most of it was copied fro the Porsche press release. Hope it helps,

For the new Carrera 4, Porsche uses a viscous clutch in combination with a mechanical rear differential lock and Porsche’s automatic brake differential (ABD), instead of the old setup that employed electrically controlled and lockable centre and rear differentials. The viscous clutch is located just in front of the gearbox on an extension to the main gearbox shaft. It distributes torque between the two axles, constantly and automatically varying the drive to the front wheels from a minimum 3 per cent to 41 per cent, though in normal motoring it settles at about 30 pert cent.

The system relies upon any difference in speed between the wheels to apportion the torque and is clever enough to distinguish between a slippery surface and hard acceleration. Boot the Carrera and the drive to the front wheels drops to about 10 per cent, thus decreasing any tendency to understeer. If the rear wheels continually break traction, as on snow and ice , the torque spread goes in the opposite direction, sending between 30 to 41 per cent to the front axle.

The diff lock maintains a 25 per cent locking effect between the rear wheels under power, but a 40 per cent lock up on the over run. Lift off abruptly mid-corner and it has a stabilising effect to reduce any hint that the tail might whip out. The upshot is that, in these conditions, the lock creates a yaw force that almost doubles the understeer.

pp

 

Who said that? The only thing that was said (and by me) was that AWD tend to oversteer whereas RWD tend to understeer, which is in fact the case...

 

You have that backward.

Though they all understeer oem, AWD has a more pronounced understeer tendancy

lsd(when functioning) also tends to induce understeer.

 

This part is in reference to the M220 lsd/abd option which was also available on 2wd cars, RS has an even more effective 40/65 lsd

 

Damn, just noticed my faux pa, thanks Bill. Yes, AWD = more understeer.

 

The few guys on the track who run AWD 993's say that they are constantly fighting understeer. None of these have been Moton or JRZ-equipped cars, though.

 

That certainly agrees with what I found when I dyno'd my C4. It had 10% going to the front on a dyno run, at WOT. Very interesting; thanks for posting that.

 

AWD cars can balance understeer with alignment. I run PSS9s with -2.0F and -1.75R camber on my project car and it feels very neutral compared to my stock car with RS alignment specs.